NEWS HEADLINES

By Kristen Tribe | Published Saturday, December 15, 2012Tags: Wise County

Do you ever fly out of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport or Love Field?

Are you tired of paying to park?

TAPS Public Transit wants to know. The transportation provider is asking Wise County residents for input on the need for an airport shuttle service.

TAPS already provides public transportation within Wise County, but this would be an additional service, providing transportation to and from DFW and Love Field.

“Before we can dedicate equipment and manpower to a new service, we need to ascertain if the residents of Wise County would use an airport shuttle,” said Brad Underwood, chief executive officer and executive director of TAPS Public Transit, in a press release.

“We allow people to park for free, put them on a bus, drop them off at the gate at which they’re flying out and pick them up at baggage claim,” he said in an interview this week. There would be a fee to ride.

County commissioner and TAPS board member Danny White thought the Sherman shuttle might be of interest to Wise County residents.

“We don’t fly that often,” he said, “but I think it would be handy. Anytime a growing community gets the opportunity to have something like this, it should be tried.”

Underwood said it’s become one of TAPS’ fastest-growing services. Although no details are set, he said it would likely be similar to one in Sherman.

“The cost there is $40 each way,” he said. “It’s based on miles … I figure it would be pretty close to it.”

Decatur city councilman and TAPS board member Jay Davidson said he was curious about the level of interest.

“… we figured out that the only way to do it is to try to put it out there and make people aware of it and see how it goes,” he said. “We’ve got a hub of highways here that might certainly make it worthwhile to have that service here.”

County residents can take a survey about the proposed service at www.TAPSbus.com/survey. Underwood said 50 people had responded.

Originally, the deadline was Dec. 15, but it has been extended to Dec. 31.

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